Square Teases Some Kind Of Announcement For Monday On Vine

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Square has a cryptic teaser on Vine published today that suggests it’ll show us… something on Monday. There’s little about the short video that offers any clue about what could be revealed, except that it fits in a balled fist. But maybe it’s conceptual, so it would technically “fit” anywhere. IT’S A MYSTERY.

An intriguing possibility is that Square is somehow going to update its credit card dongle for smartphones, which has remained unchanged since its introduction in 2009. The design is iconic at this point, so it’s not really clear what they could change in a gen 2 product to really add value without changing things up too much.

Two more interesting possibilities based only on observation of the company so far come to mind, however: Square could be getting into chip-and-pin readers as it continues international expansion, or (and this is more of a fantastic theory) it could be building iBeacon transmitters to take advantage of Apple’s new tech to help give its merchant users another option for in-person marketing.

iBeacons and their ability to deliver hyper-local alerts and updates to shoppers in brick-and-mortar or shared retail settings, as at a flea market or festival, seems a very worthwhile addition to Square’s storefront software offerings. Based on the other iBeacons transmitters I’ve seen, one would definitely be palmable like the mystery thing in the video above.

In the end, whatever Square plans to show off tomorrow remains a mystery, but we’ll be watching Vine to see if it’s anything worth actually caring about.

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CrunchBase

OverviewSquare helps anyone take care of their business. Square's complete register service is a full point of sale with tools for every part of running a business, from accepting credit cards and tracking sales and inventory to small-business financing. Customers also use Square Cash, the easiest way to send and receive money, and Square Order, a new way to pre-order food and drinks for pickup. Founded …